Juxtapoz "art & culture magazine" is now the third largest selling art magazine, a marker of cultural currency for a movement that only appears to be growing.Initially I dismissed it because I judged that approach to art to be lacking in what DJ Martinez refers to as simultaneity. In other words, it is characterized by skill, aesthetics, formal concerns, but where are the ideas, content, and politics?
Now, as it continues to exert ever greater influence on visual culture, it can no longer be ignored and I find myself fascinated by it, and needing to reexamine my own perceptions and values around art. Is the seemingly gratuitous obsession w/illustrational aesthetics and childish imagery, often put forth with nihilistic attitude, a more honest expression of our collective existence at this moment in time? Is the notion of an art of resistance that dares to challenge the audience a la Beuys or Martinez simply outre and out of touch, now seen as hopelessly naive?
what's your take on the visual culture represented by juxtapoz?
